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View Full Version : Question about a company wanting "Seismic Exploration" on my land



cleller
10/13/2011, 01:22 PM
We've got two letters this month from a landman representing a company that is doing seismic exploration in our area. The letter says this company has obtained a permit to do this operation, and that it includes our land. They offered $7 per acre for access.
We do not own the mineral rights here, and more or less ignored the first letter, to see what happened next. Now we have another letter prodding us to take the money, or they'll have to get an injunction.
I'm not terribly worried. We obviously don't want a drilling rig going up near the house, but I don't think the odds are that would happen anyway. To add to the story, about 7-8 years ago a gas well was drilled just across from the road from the corner or our property. It is still in operation. It seems like with this well so close, it would lessen the chance of another company drilling again. If someone does want to drill, how much leverage does the surface owner have about where the well is placed?

I know some oil/gas folks post on here, just hoping someone can explain to me what goes on with this type of operation before I call the guy.

Skysooner
10/13/2011, 01:44 PM
A well producing nearby does not lessen the chances of another well being drilled. There are zones above and below that current zone that could be drilled/produced.

As for the seismic operation, it is kind of intrusive. Look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_seismology

The relevant section is called "Land". It is about halfway down and will give you some idea on what it is all about. Unfortunately since you don't own the minerals, they likely could get an injunction as seismic is all about measuring what somebody else owns. If you owned the minerals, there isn't a thing they could do about it.

The only thing about that link is they are talking about dynamite seismic. Most likely they will use a seimic truck that essentially shakes the ground at a given point. It is less intrusive except there may end up being tracks over your place. They are required to put it back the way it is, but it depends on the company as to how good a job they do. Access is $7/ac. Damages are a completely separate thing.

Petro-Sooner
10/13/2011, 01:46 PM
The surface owner would have no say. The geologist picks the location on a number of factors including well spacing and drainage from offsetting wells. At least that's what I've always dealt with.

Flagstaffsooner
10/13/2011, 02:12 PM
Lock up your women when the jug hustlers come through.:stupid:

Jacie
10/13/2011, 02:37 PM
Too bad about those mineral rights.

I am a royalty holder and have never even seen any of the acreage that has provided for my family for close to 80 years.

I just got $900/acre to lease so I kinda feel for your $7/acre seismic fee . . .

cleller
10/13/2011, 02:52 PM
From looking over the cover letter, they list the townships included in the operation. Nine townships in total. Matching it up with a plat book, it looks like the project covers about the SE quarter of Lincoln County, and a bit of NE Pottawatamie County. A fairly large area. How many different places in the operation area would they need to enter to do these tests?
We have 160 acres, would they just want to set up in one spot, or multiple areas?

KantoSooner
10/13/2011, 03:22 PM
Essentially you won't be able to stop them from doing seismic work, but they probably will try to be cooperative if you do as well. Likewise on drilling.

I'd probably let them do the seismic, but make them tell you what they are going to do first. then, if they decide to drill on your land, you still won't be able to do much to stop them, but that'd be the time to consult an attorney about how to document what your land looks like now.

olevetonahill
10/13/2011, 03:25 PM
Tell em to kick rocks on the 7 bucks an acre crap
Hell a few years ago they wanted to come thru here , I have 42 .
they wanted to give me sompun like 250 bucks total .
I told em to **** off and held out they eventually gave me 850 total

Petro-Sooner
10/13/2011, 03:35 PM
I'm not a geophysicist, but I would suspect they would set up a line of geo-phones in several locations to record data in that large of area.

NormanPride
10/13/2011, 03:38 PM
You should play really loud Pantera music when they come do their readings. I think that would be hilarious.

Breadburner
10/13/2011, 04:06 PM
Only thing you can do is try for more dough.....

Lott's Bandana
10/13/2011, 04:24 PM
Only thing you can do is try for more dough.....


This^^^

A savvy surface owner can establish a relationship with the company that is the actual client of the landman and sometimes get some nice improvements to his/her property. New fencing, a road, sometimes even a water well when the drilling begins.

At the very least, having the conversation might get you a better deal on your price.

It might also be a good idea to speak to your neighbor and find out what the well spacing for his well's unit is. If you don't have a relationship with the neighbor, or more likely he doesn't know, you can find this info at the Corporation Commission. As stated in a previous post, just because the gas well is close, your unit may not be Held By Production and you could end up with a well.

Many times, if you don't start all confrontational, and don't shove attorneys in their face, you can end up with a pretty satisfactory experience. Having said that, I would never steer you away from having an attorney review everything they put to you.

cleller
10/13/2011, 05:17 PM
The guy across the road with the gas well is happy about his deal, he got a deep well out of it that he now uses for irrigation. I've read some people in Texas talking about getting $25 per acre, but don't know how much acreage they were talking about. I might try to go for $10, see what happens.
From internet research, most folks say its no big deal. Just hope they don't like what they find. If they think they'll be able to drive some truck across all four corners of the property, they'll be disappointed. The back 80 is pretty rough: woods, creeks, moonshine stills, etc.

Lott's Bandana
10/13/2011, 05:40 PM
The issue, and you may probably know this, is that the seismic trucks will leave tracks on your land that are pretty much permanent.

The trucks weigh 68,000 pounds which is the same weight as an old Poseidon SLBM.

AlbqSooner
10/13/2011, 07:43 PM
As the surface owner, you have the right to be compensated for any "taking' of your property in the event they decide to place a well on your property. They will take some land for the well site and some for access roads. They make you an offer and if you two cannot agree on a price, they go to the courthouse, and file basically a condemnation action. At this point, you need a lawyer. The court will appoint 3 commissioners. They will go view the property and render a vaulation of the property before the taking and the value after. They file their report with the court. If you and the Company agree, you can take the amount of the commissioner's award. If not, you get a jury trial to determine the before and after value.

cleller
10/13/2011, 08:42 PM
The issue, and you may probably know this, is that the seismic trucks will leave tracks on your land that are pretty much permanent.

The trucks weigh 68,000 pounds which is the same weight as an old Poseidon SLBM.

Anywhere they could drive a big vehicle like that wouldn't be that much of an issue. The lay of the land is such that there would be a couple of logical ways to get something like that in, and it would just cut across a pasture, or thru a little bit of bottom land that is hard to keep from getting overgrown. If they wanted to fix a road across the creek, I'd probably like that. Right now, the only way to get to the back 80 is by tractor.

Lott's Bandana
10/13/2011, 08:45 PM
Anywhere they could drive a big vehicle like that wouldn't be that much of an issue. The lay of the land is such that there would be a couple of logical ways to get something like that in, and it would just cut across a pasture, or thru a little bit of bottom land that is hard to keep from getting overgrown. If they wanted to fix a road across the creek, I'd probably like that. Right now, the only way to get to the back 80 is by tractor.


This is exactly the way to start a conversation with the oil company that hired the landman and seismic. Give them the best way in / out and they'll likely compensate you, and continue to communicate with you.

TheHumanAlphabet
10/13/2011, 10:39 PM
They will likely destroy a fence or stuff like that. They will be shooting soundings in a pattern and they will need to follow the planned pattern. Get them to replair damage and negotiate access fee. If you are in a tight gas area, they will be hot to get access and likely go much higher than $7/ac.

Ike
10/17/2011, 08:29 AM
They will likely destroy a fence or stuff like that. They will be shooting soundings in a pattern and they will need to follow the planned pattern. Get them to replair damage and negotiate access fee. If you are in a tight gas area, they will be hot to get access and likely go much higher than $7/ac.

The bit about destroying a fence isn't necessarily true. Thats very much dependent on the crew. Also, the planned pattern usually allows for moves. I don't think I've seen a shoot that sticks completely to the planned pattern. Especially if it's a 3D shoot.

Ike
10/17/2011, 08:43 AM
From looking over the cover letter, they list the townships included in the operation. Nine townships in total. Matching it up with a plat book, it looks like the project covers about the SE quarter of Lincoln County, and a bit of NE Pottawatamie County. A fairly large area. How many different places in the operation area would they need to enter to do these tests?
We have 160 acres, would they just want to set up in one spot, or multiple areas?
It depends on whether they are dong a 3D shoot, or one or more 2Ds. The 2D shoots are much less invasive. They lay out a line (some miles long) of geophones, and then shake the ground at stations along that line (a typical spacing is around 220 ft, but much more or much less is possible too.) They can be done with one of these in a pretty short time. For a 3D, they lay out a large number of those lines parallel to each other, and then shake the ground along lines running perpendicular (usually...although angled source lines are becoming more popular) to those. A typical spacing between the source and receiver lines is about a quarter mile. It takes a much longer time to shoot a 3D.

cleller
10/17/2011, 08:50 AM
To answer the above, it is a 3-D project. Supposed to call the guy today, will keep you advised.

Chuck Bao
10/17/2011, 11:08 AM
The main thing that I don't like is that they have the right to come across my family's land anytime over a specified period, which I think was 5 years. We just don't like strangers driving across our pastures.

cleller
10/18/2011, 12:38 PM
The contract they sent is ends their window at 9-01-2013, that seems manageable. The guy is out of his office till Wednesday, so I'm on hold.

cleller
11/2/2011, 05:16 PM
Well- that took longer than I thought. We talked to the guy- then tried to hold out for more, they said no, and we waited some more. Now I'm knuckling under and just taking there measly $7/acre.

The main reason is that I ran into the crew that is doing the actual work the other day. They were down the road getting the lay of things. They were very nice, showed me a map of the project, etc. Asked me a bunch or questions about pipelines, old wells, utilities, etc. So we got along real well. They said it would be a dynamite job. Drill a hole 80 ft deep, and drop the dynamite in there. (I didn't really understand all the lingo about megatons) There IS an ONG pipeline that crosses one corner of our property, way back on the back 80.

So I felt like they won't blow up anything I didn't want blown up, and that it won't make it any more likely that we'd get stuck with an oil rig anyway.

I'll just put the money in the bank and buy some gravel or gas.
Now I've just got to figure out a plan to get me some of their dynamite.

You guys have been a big help, and helped settle the nerves.

Lott's Bandana
11/2/2011, 06:26 PM
Glad that didn't turn into a raging kerfuffle.

olevetonahill
11/2/2011, 06:45 PM
Glad that didn't turn into a raging kerfuffle.

HEH